Devil's Footprints Edamame Salad Over Noodles

Exactly 156 years ago, the Devil's Footprints appeared in Devon, England. No, seriously, cloven hoof prints continued for over 100 miles, crossing bodies of water and traversing rooftops and whatnot. SATAN. Or wood mice, or good old mass hysteria. Good thing we don't succumb to that anymore...

This dish I cooked up real quick after helping my roommate with an art installation that needs to be ready for Thursday, when all the wealthy donors come to the new Creative Arts Council building to ooh and ahh. I gotta be at work in half an hour! I maybe went a little overboard with the seasoning — my love of soy sauce and cumin.

makes approx. 2-3 servings

INGREDIENTS:

12 oz. frozen edamame, thawed

9 oz. frozen sweet corn, thawed

1 medium yellow onion, diced

2 handfuls pea greens

5 grape tomatoes, quartered, forgotten in the fridge by my roommate, who will never notice they're gone

5 sun-dried tomatoes, sliced

1/3 pack rice bran Pad Thai fettuccine

1/4 c. shoyu soy sauce

1/4 c. yeast flakes

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. crushed red pepper

1/2 tsp. curry powder

1/2 tsp. turmeric

DIRECTIONS:

1. Put the noodles in a large pot over high heat to get the water boiling. Once boiling, cook for additional 8-10 min.
2. Fry onion in oil in a large pan over medium heat. Once translucent, add  edamame, sweet corn, and pea greens. Cook for several minutes, until the greens start to wilt.
3. Add soy sauce, yeast flakes, and spices. Turn heat up to medium-high and cook for several minutes.
4. Add both kinds of tomatoes, cook for a couple minutes. Combine with noodles.

From Hyun Höchsmann's and Yang Guorong's translation of Zhuangzi, "The Great and Honored Teacher" (123):

Another day Yan Hui saw Confucius again and said, "I have made progress."
"What do you mean?" asked Confucius.
"I sit and forget everything."

Vera Zasulich Tofu Scramble Fried Noodles

Maybe I should work on my presentation. Poor arrangement, good flavor. I didn't go to the grocery store today because I worked 7:30am-4pm and it was below 10F. Not good traveling weather. So there's no onion in this dish, although you should use some if you've got it! Also, I intended to use coriander rather than cardamom but I mislabeled my baggies and wasn't paying attention. Turns out cardamom and yeast flakes complement each other.

This one's named after the 133rd anniversary of Vera Zasulich's shooting of then-Governor of St. Petersburg, Fyodor Trepov. I just read about this in Kropotkin's memoirs! Zasulich won the trial and moved to Switzerland a popular hero. Someone else who's a hero is Isa, whose tofu scramble recipe inspired my method.

makes approx. 3 servings

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. tofu

1 large stalk broccoli, diced, with florets

1 handful shiitake mushrooms, sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced

shoyu soy sauce

1/3 package rice bran Pad Thai fettuccine

1 tsp. cardamom

1 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. turmeric

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

1/4 tsp. salt

ground black pepper

1/4 c. yeast flakes

2 Tbsp. sesame oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook the noodles according to package directions.

2. Fry broccoli in a pan with some oil over medium-high heat. Mince garlic, then toss it in with broccoli. After a minute, crumble tofu. Slice mushrooms and add to pan. Splash some soy sauce on top. If using a metal pan, scrape the bottom with a spatula.

3. Mix the seasoning in a small container with a little bit of water. Once the noodles are done, add all remaining ingredients and cook over medium until things are warm and sticky.

From Hyun Höchsmann's and Yang Guorong's introduction to the Zhuangzi:

"The cook works with his spirit and not with his eyes. Following the natural forms, he lets the knife slide through the large crevices and follows the big cavities. After nineteen years the edge of his knife is as sharp as if it had just come from the whetstone."

National Hug Day Stir Fry

 

Apparently it's National Hug Day here in the US, and I haven't received a hug yet. On top of that, this meal was overambitious and overly salty. It was my first attempt at making seitan, and for the first time ever Isa let me down. Or rather, I let Isa down, seeing as she's made the recipe "foolproof." I must be the fool to beat them all.

Too much soy sauce, that was my problem. I don't know why I thought this dish needed a mushroom soy gravy. Here's the recipe if you want to improve it.

makes approx. 3 servings

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. seitan (using Isa's above-linked recipe)

1/3 pack of rice bran Pad Thai fettuccine

1 large stalk broccoli, diced, and florets

2 handfuls shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and chopped

2 serrano chilies, chopped

1 large red onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, pressed

1/4 c. shoyu soy sauce

2 c. water

2 Tbsp. oat flour

juice from 1/2 lemon

1 tsp. cumin

red pepper flakes

oil

DIRECTIONS:

1. Prepare seitan. I don't know what I did wrong, but mine didn't hold together too well, and even after 45 minutes of simmering and 10-15 in the pan, it was soft. Not too different from the baked stale bread I used in a curry a while ago.

2. Cook 1/3 of the diced onion in a small pot over medium heat for several minutes. Add 2 cloves pressed garlic for a minute, then add water and oat flour. Once the oat flour is dissolved, add the soy sauce and one serrano pepper, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Let simmer until the rest of the meal is prepared.

3. Cook the remaining onion in a large pan over medium heat. Add 2 cloves pressed garlic, then the broccoli and serrano pepper. After several minutes, add in 2/3 lb. seitan. Raise heat enough to char the bottom of the broccoli and seitan, scraping the pan with a spatula occasionally. Add in the cumin and red pepper flakes along with a little bit of water to coat.

4. Boil the noodles in the seitan broth or water. (I did the former, which was frugal but probably contributed to the overpowering soy flavor).

5. Serve stir fry over noodles with gravy.

I watched the final episode of the Nickelodeon cartoon, Avatar: The Last Airbender, this afternoon before making dinner. I feel no embarrassment at an aching compulsion to watch all three seasons again, because it's escapism born of living a representation of political empowerment. It's a kids' show, it's full of hope and goodness and justice. Happiness is the hardest thing in this world for someone who abhors injustice, which in so many places goes by the name "necessity" and is reproduced by so many people whose dearest vices are cynicism and complacency. How many centuries ago did we sacrifice balance in this world.

In other words, where's my hug?